Zameka Nungu and Nosihle Ngweyi, two widows who lost their husbands during the brutal killing of miners, speak about how life has not changed for the better, in front of the hill where police killed 34 miners in 2012 in the "Marikana massacre", near the Lonmin mine in Rustenburg, northwest of Johannesburg Jul 19, 2022. REUTERS
) Zameka Nungu and Nosihle Ngweyi, two widows who lost their husbands during the brutal killing of miners, speak about how life has not changed for the better, in front of the hill where police killed 34 miners in 2012 in the "Marikana massacre", near the Lonmin mine in Rustenburg, northwest of Johannesburg Jul 19, 2022. REUTERS
Society

After 10 years, widows of victims of 'Marikana massacre' left with no answers

ByReuters

Nosihle Ngweyi and Zameka Nongu complete a laborious climb up a small hill in South Africa's Marikana town and look forlornly at the site where their husbands were killed on Aug 16, 2012. Ten painstaking years have passed and they still seek answers.

Their husbands were among the 34 striking miners gunned down by the police in the infamous "Marikana massacre" outside a platinum mine in the North West province town, the worst such incident since the end of apartheid.

Some of 40-member cast and 13-piece band perform on stage, during a musical performance commemorating the anniversary of the "Marikana massacre", where police killed 34 miners in 2012, at the State Theater in Pretoria, South Africa, Aug 12, 2022. REUTERS

"Mama why did the police kill my father?" asks Ngweyi's son, to which she has no answer.

The 10th anniversary of the killings is also being commemorated in "Marikana the Musical", being performed in Pretoria, in which people dressed as miners and police re-enact the tragedy as sombre music plays in the background.

To the audience and actors alike, the violence is incomprehensible. Lead actor Mavuso Magabane said: "Every night before I come on stage I watch the videos, I relive the moment so that when I come on this stage I'm in a trance."

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